COURTESY OF JOURNEY MEDIA Lead singer Steve Augeri, center, gets literal support from the band.

Still on a Journey after
2 years with a new leader

JOURNEY RETURNS after a two-year absence to play the Blaisdell Arena tomorrow night -- and, yes, diehard local fans, while there's still no Steve Perry fronting the band, there is Steve Augeri taking care of the soaring vocal duties, like he did the last time the group was here in October 2002.

The roster is filled out with original members Neal Schon on guitar and Ross Valory on bass, longtime keyboardist Jonathan Cain, and Deen Castronovo on drums.

Since Journey's last visit to Hawaii, their self-produced EP release "Red13" has come out. Schon describes the four tracks contained in their latest bio: " 'State of Grace' is a very guitar driven, uptempo, heavy rocker. We are also playing this in the beginning of our show now. 'The Time' is a very cool, guitar driven, 6/8 time signature, with some very huge, but different hooks. Cool jammin' solo guitar. Also fun to play live. 'Walking Away From the Edge' -- this a very musical power ballad with some great lyrics, and with a very haunting guitar solo at the end. 'I Can Breathe' is another cool rocker."

But, of course, the band will faithfully trot out the hits from their 1970s albums "Evolution" and "Escape."

Tickets for tomorrow's 7:30 show are $45 and $55, and available at the arena box office, all Ticketmaster outlets including Times Supermarkets. Charge-by-phone at (877) 750-4400 or online at ticketmaster.com.